Dr. Marc Micozzi '74, author of Fundamentals of Complementary and Alternative Medicine

The nature of Sir Francis Bacon's death speaks volumes about his life. Bacon was a statesman, lawyer, writer and philosopher, but science was his passion. During the winter of 1626, Bacon was undertaking a carriage ride when an idea occurred to him: Would subjecting a body to icy temperatures delay the process of putrefaction? On impulse, he left the comfort of his coach to purchase a chicken, which he packed with snow. While the scientific results of this experiment were never recorded, the medical consequences were unmistakable: Bacon contracted bronchopneumonia and died.

With today's treatments, Bacon might have survived that illness, thanks, in fact, to the scientific approach to medicine that his ideas helped shape. But even as he was helping to formulate an empirical approach to scientific research in 17th century England, such therapeutic modalities as acupuncture, herbal remedies, manual therapies, spiritual healing and the traditional medicine of India (Ayurveda) had been widely practiced for thousands of years. Today, we refer to these approaches collectively as "complementary" or "alternative" medicine. But if the world has changed greatly since Bacon's day, one thing that hasn't is that these "alternative" therapeutic approaches still constitute primary health care for 80% of the world's people, according to the World Health Organization...

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The College of Physicians of Philadelphia
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World Health Organization:
http://www.who.int/home-page/

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